I’m too tired from my booth bunny efforts at nerd prom today, but here’s the schedule of things going on tomorrow. Some worthwhile looking stuff, though today’s sessions (which is FAR too close to my booth) were 50-50 quality-wise.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

When I came back inside after getting my newspaper this morning, I found a political advertisement lodged in my door handle. Upon unrolling it, I first noticed the name Mike McMenamin, who is running for the county board. The second thing I noticed was that in the picture of him and his family, he is the only one not looking at the camera:

He also seems a bit disinterested. I don’t think Mike is all there.

I don’t know if he saw a squirrel, was making mental notes about turnip farming or maybe just didn’t know where to look, but you’d think that someone running for office could get a decent photographer to do the job right. I don’t know much about this guy other than the rash of good things he has said about himself in his literature, but personally I would rather elect someone who can follow a photographer’s simple directions to look at the camera.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

This would be the Westin Arlington Gateway hotel bar, Pinzimini, where DC Metroblogging had a happy hour last night on the recommendation of one of the writers.

He likes it because it’s a mellow place, and I have to agree. It sure is mellow. The photo at right is exactly how it looked on a Friday night.

Even with few people there, Pinzimini wasn’t all that. The $8 rail (!) drinks are served slow, the bar is out of napkins and limes (on a Friday!), and I had to request our table be cleared of two rounds of pre-us detritus.

Note to those who cross the river voluntarily: ixnay on Pinzimini-ay.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

If you’re a photographer or have an eye for design, you can’t help but notice every once in a while how awesome our Metro system is, especially relative to other stinky, dark, dirty subways around the world. For being a product of the 70’s (opening day was in 1976) and being nearly as old as I am, it’s aging quite well. The arched patterns of intersecting concrete are functional as well as beautiful and give you a feeling of spaciousness unlike many other subway systems.

All of that being said, I can’t bring myself to take any photos down there in the dark catacombs of commuters. We’ve all seen other’s attempts to shoot something interesting but they all end up looking about the same. I know one day a creative idea will pop into my head and I’ll drag my camera gear below ground, but until then, here are some of my favorite Metro shots by Flickr users Samer Farha, dbking, Grundlepuck, and LaTur….

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs Continue reading →

… or maybe it’s from being the son of a RN, but when I first saw this I was thinking of it as related to phlebotomy somehow.

Yeah, well… Darling girlfriend isn’t with me for my brains, I guess. Anyway, it’s as good a reason to hassle you as any – go donate blood.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

In an upgrade worthy of a kid on Christmas morning or Calvin and Hobbs daily, someone is enjoying an empty box in McPherson Square today.

No word on if he is getting transmogrified or just taking a nap.

If it was you, what would you transmogrify to? Or would you just nap today like I wanna do?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Now did my CVS is Fully Stocked post give Sarah Godfrey the idea to write her Park of the Beast article?

Even though she mentions my post in the article, who really knows. I only know that all her efforts to shame CVS into keeping stocking work tidy were for naught at the 15th and K Street’s CVS store on Friday.

This was the wall of red boxes out front, store stocking inventory scattered along 15th Street and blocking us from using the crosswalk and forcing us into K Street traffic.

Yo, CVS, ya mind?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Did you read the Washington City Paper lead article two weeks ago on the DC Police Surveillance Cameras?

Blockbustin’ Video! told of how the camera at 14th and Gerard Street was next to a new condo project. What it didn’t capture was how close to the new project it was.

The south side of Gerard is a brand new condo. The north side, where the camera is, looks like government housing. Might the camera be there to keep the two groups separate? Or just to improve the “security” of the condo and keep its price high?

Go by and check it out yourself.

Given Metro’s intransigent desire to hire someone other than Dan Tangherlini to run the city’s rail system, it comes as no surprise that other civic organizations might want to snatch up the brilliant interim manager of the Metro. However, I was surprised to hear that he might be in contention for the soon-to-be vacant City Administrator job, says the Post:

Fenty has identified a potential candidate to replace Bobb: Dan Tangherlini, interim Metro chief and former head of the District’s Transportation Department.

Tangherlini is seeking appointment as the permanent Metro leader; a decision is planned in October. But if he does not win that job, Fenty said, “we would be very interested in him.”

This brings up an important question: Who needs an amazingly effective and clearly public-minded front-facing official more? Metro or the city itself? In my opinion, Metro may need a new strong head, and Tangherlini’s done an incredible and laudable job at the helm there, but I think the City could use a fresh face, too, and Tangherlini’s credentials here are impeccable. What say you?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Major Hat Tip to the new DC Sports Bog for pointing out this hysterical ad featuring GW Coach Karl Hobbs, who is far, far, far too excited to go get his prostate checked. Is it just me, or is the emotion-set all wrong for what’s about to happen to that poor guy’s ass?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

This boy is still in my house, still on my couch, still homeless.

He sends out emails, he goes to open houses, but yet rejected he is again. What might he be doing wrong? What might he do better?

I know you know the pain of looking for a place in DC. We’ve all been there, and hope not to be there again. And we all can at least image the how a month on a couch ain’t good for family relations.

So do me, do him, do all of us a favor: spill you [apartment, room, group] house hunting secrets, and spill them now!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Breaking News! All Nation’s Triathlon race participants just received this depressing news via email:

Swim Segment. We received a letter 9/12/06 from the DC Metro Police stating the Harbor Permit we submitted was denied. The swim segment will be canceled and a 3k run substituted in its place.

Now the first question to ask would be why was the Harbor Permit denied? TNT says:

The process for testing the water in the middle Potomac for the specific purposes of conducting a swim event has never been well identified. While statutes, regulations and guidelines exist there is no precedent for permitting swimming for a triathlon.

TNT provided water quality tests starting July 31, 2006. We tested specifically for F Coli as required by the EPA for Class A use of a waterway. DC regulations require additional bacteriological testing be done for other pathogens in addition to F Coli. They also require testing for a greater length of time. The testing provided did not meet DC Requirements.”

That, kids, is called DC’s Byzantine regulations being a joy kill. But wait, why is the DC MPD giving out Harbor Permits, especially since the race entered/exited the Potomac on National Park Service land?

Something smells fishy here. Might it be hermaphoditc bass? Could the MPD’s be drinking Potomac estrogen water too long, to be scared of 500 elite athletes showing up its donut fed force on the race course?

Could this really be the fault of The Nation’s Triathlon’s irrational exuberance in having a 2006 triathlon? Might they have kept the ambiguity of approval hidden to entice more racers early enough to fill the course?

Either way, it’s a massive f*^k-up that is gonna doom this race. First off, many of the only 500 out of a projected 2,000 races will even do the course now that its not a triathlon. A run-bike-run is a duathlon, and not worth my time.

Oh, and offering a $50 credit to the 2007 race, out of a ~200$ entry fee doesn’t make up for it.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

This would be the physical manifestation of arrogance.

Not only is this punk parked in front of a fire hydrant, he is also in a bus zone. And he just had to be driving a Bemmer Beemer Bimmer.

Would all that signify a small mind or a small penis?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

Now don’t ya hate this. Doesn’t it upset you when your bus goes and kisses another. And it public too!

This is two “S” buses kissing at 16th and Irving Streets this morning. Smooching for at least an hour before I passed by and still giving each other love now I bet.

Next time, please kiss in the off-hours. Your passengers and fellow commuters would appreciate the deference.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

As Wayan noted below, things aren’t moving on 16th St. this morning. The traffic is delay is due to two Metrobuses colliding on 16th St., injuring at least 12 riders. The accident occured before 7am this morning, and involved buses on the S1 and S2 routes. WTOP is reporting that one of the buses was forced to stop short after a car ran a red light in front of the first bus, causing a pileup behind the bus. 12 riders were take to DC Hospitals for injuries.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Photo by DC Metroblogger

While this photo does not really capture it, 16th Street ain’t moving this morning.

If you take this route to work I suggest you pick an alternate or prepare to wait.

The buses in the photo took 5 minutes to make it a block.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

With 75% of the precincts counted, Adrian Fenty is a clear winner tonight. 54% of votes tabulated so far ended up in his camp, some 22% more than Linda Cropp. Mr. Fenty has given his victory speech, and Mrs. Cropp her concession. The final vote is in November, but it looks as though Adrian Fenty has the mayorship all sewn up. No results are available via the DC Board of Elections Website, which is an awful shame, since my podunk county in Northern California can even do that. Perhaps that’s something that Mr. Fenty can get to work on?

In his victory speech, Mr. Fenty has made it very clear that he supports full voting rights for the District and will make that a significant part of his platform as Mayor of DC, something I whole-heartedly support, so long as we can make sure that we don’t end up with a Senator Marion Barry.

According to News Channel 8 (which I had to watch streaming instead of on my satellite system, thanks DirecTV), Mary Cheh has Ward 3 sewn up, Phil Mendelsohn will repeat as At-Large Councilman, Tommy Wells will take the Ward 6 seat. Eleanor Holmes Norton will repeat as DC’s (largely useless) Delegate to Congress. More as the text slowly slides by.

Update 10:38p

Fenty would be the first DC native to take the mayorship, which is pretty incredible.

Vincent Gray has a 16% lead on Kathy Patterson for Council Chair.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Well, it’s 8pm and the polls are now closed in the District. In an hour, they’ll close in Maryland for the primaries there. It’s time to count the votes, time to determine the winners, engaging in that process known as representative democracy. This really is just the primaries, but for predominantly-democrat Washington DC, this is the final election. Candidates Fenty, Cropp, Johns, and Orange have completed their run, and I know that I will welcome the removal of all the campaign signs from all over this town and take it back to its pristine state.

Who won? We’ll know soon. Party on tonight, candidates.

Just one thought before we go to the results, I’d like to thank Adrian Fenty and his campaign for being the only campaign to treat us seriously. We were blown off or ignored by Linda Cropp, by Marie Johns, by Vincent Orange when we requested something as simple as 10 questions. I am deeply disappointed in each of their campaigns for ignoring us as a venue for voter education, and I hope that they will learn from this in their defeat.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

See this cute white pit bull, Precious?

If you believe Joe, a homeless Texan who often preached about the Lord in Dupont Circle, she is just a lovable and harmless squirrel chaser.

If you believe the U.S. Park Police, she was aggressively running toward an officer who shot her in apparent self defense.

Which ever version is true, according to the WashPost, the end result is the same:

[Joe] lay in front of the dog’s body, which was covered with a blue blanket, until the Humane Society took the dog away. “She’s gone now, she’s dead, she’s dead,” Joe said, sobbing.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

This came to us by friend of MBDC Rob Plumot who was walking through DC last night and sent us this:

After heading out of DC’s Best Sushi place around 8 last night, I headed towards Dupont Circle, only to find flashing police lights all over the place. Half of the circle was roped with “DO NOT CROSS – POLICE LINE” tape and at least 6 cruisers parked around and on the circle itself.

Wondering what happened, my compatriots and I talked to a bunch of folks who had seen the police response to the latest “crime emergency.” A peaceful homeless man’s dog had been shot by a cop in
the bustling park. It seems that the old pitbull was off it’s leash, hanging around it’s owner when the cop arrived. The cop, later claiming the dog charged him, fired a round into the mutt killing it instantly. Luckily, it seems his fast trigger finger didn’t result in any injuries to the many people wandering around the circle, not that that thought apparently crossed his mind when he decided to draw a gun and shoot a dog. All of the eye-witnesses I spoke with said the dog
was calm and not acting aggressively. It looks like the Washington Post reporter got a similar story about the completely needless shooting.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs